


look at the stars, look how they shine for you

by vdtc



Category: Dolan Twins - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One-Shot, ethma, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 12:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16017758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vdtc/pseuds/vdtc
Summary: “Emma Chamberlain, you shine brighter than any other star.”orthe one where sister squad takes a road trip to vegas and emma opens up to ethan about her feelings





	look at the stars, look how they shine for you

**Author's Note:**

> this is completely out of character for me. i can't believe i'm 18 years old and i'm back writing fanfiction about REAL people and i'm low key embarrassed about it. but i can't control my feelings about ethan and emma so here we are. enjoy or don't, this was more like therapy for me so i couldn't care less if you liked it.
> 
> also, i was honestly tired of reading fanfiction written by 12 year olds and cringing so hard, so here's this.

Emma was falling asleep. As much as she wanted to stay awake, she couldn’t possibly hold her eyes open for much longer. Not with the soft noise of the car traveling over asphalt or the soft tapping of Ethan’s fingers on the steering wheel. Especially not with the warmth of the arm pressed just so gently against hers, draped carelessly over the center console. Her eyes flutter shut, lips parting just barely.

She lets out a sigh of content.

“Emma.”

Startled—but not yet ready to snap out of her comfortable reverie—she hums in response. A chuckle escapes from the older boy next to her.

“Are you awake?” He looks over at her slumped figure with a smirk. He doesn’t expect her to reply in that state but is surprised when her eyelids slowly flutter open, revealing two bright blue orbs. In the moonlight, he thinks they shine brighter than ever. She raises an arm (the one that isn’t currently on fire from human contact) and languidly rubs the sleep out of her eyes. 

“Nope,” she replies as sassily as she could half asleep and snuggles deeper into the seat. Her eyes are just beginning to shut again when he calls her name again, this time with a small sense of urgency. Sitting up, she turns in her seat to look at him.

The corners of Ethan’s eyes crinkle and the beginnings of a smile form on his face. One glance at his face tells Emma exactly what’s wrong. His fingers grip the wheel tightly and his eyes droop at the empty road ahead of him. She knows that he’s exhausted and suddenly she feels selfish for the few minutes of slumber she had just taken. 

“Pull over, E. I can drive the rest of the way,” she whispers as to not wake James and Grayson in the backseat. They were well over the halfway point to Vegas; it was really no trouble at all for Emma to take over.

Ethan shakes his head. 

“It’s fine. I’m okay to drive,” he refuses, blinking slowly. His body language says the opposite; Emma notices his eyebrow begin to furrow in response. She gives him a look.

“Just talk to me, yeah? So I don’t fall asleep,” Ethan suggests, already looking more awake as the conversation continues. At this, Emma’s heart jumps in her chest. Conversation usually comes easy between her and friends. There’s always someone taking jabs at another and either Grayson or Ethan are always laughing. There’s always a reason to be talking. But in the silence of the night with nothing but the noise of the road and the soft snores coming from Grayson in the back, Emma feels vulnerable. 

There’s a small pause before Emma responds. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Anything you want.” He peeks at her out the corner of his eyes. She’s facing away from him, staring out the window at the stars outside. There’s another long pause and Ethan assumes she fell back to sleep. 

“Did you know that smaller stars live longer than bigger stars?” Emma’s voice seems far away, as if lost in her thoughts. She doesn’t wait for Ethan to respond before continuing.

“I was always smaller than everyone in my class and they teased me for it. It didn’t take much for me to come running home crying to my parents. I mean, when you’re five years old, every problem seems like the end of the world.”

He snorts in response, the image of a smaller, blonde version of Emma surfacing in his head.

“If only little Emma knew how small her problems would seem now.”

Emma laughs, clapping her hand over her mouth after realizing that she might have woken everyone else up. A quick glance at the rearview mirror tells her otherwise and she continues with her story.

“My dad used to tell me that small stars shine just as bright as big stars and live just as long too. And it just took that much to make me feel just as enough as the bigger kids.” She pulls her legs up into her chest and allows her head to drop onto her knees. 

“Sometimes I think about stars when I’m feeling bad about myself,” she admits, voice slightly muffled by the fabric of her oversized sweater.

The silence that follows is just as loud as before, except now Ethan is wide awake. He has this weird feeling in his chest, this strange pull exactly where his heart is. This version of Emma is different. This Emma is insightful. This Emma is sensitive. This Emma is real. And Ethan doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Emma’s body begins to relax before his eyes, and Ethan waits until she’s asleep before replying.

“Emma Chamberlain, you shine brighter than any other star.” His voice is almost inaudible and if it weren’t for the brief pause in Grayson’s snoring as he shifted positions in his seat, Emma wouldn’t have been able to hear him and respond.

“I’m glad I met you, E.”


End file.
